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Nearly 83% of HK people seek end to protests

HONG KONG — Nearly 83 per cent of Hong Kong people want the protests that have sparked clashes with the police and disrupted the city for almost two months to stop as more than two-thirds say they want the government to clear the protest sites, showed a new poll.

HONG KONG — Nearly 83 per cent of Hong Kong people want the protests that have sparked clashes with the police and disrupted the city for almost two months to stop as more than two-thirds say they want the government to clear the protest sites, showed a new poll.

The University of Hong Kong poll released on Wednesday also showed that about 68 per cent of 513 respondents said the government should clear out the pro-democracy protesters immediately.

The results of the survey, conducted between Monday and Tuesday, came a day after Dr Chan Kin-man, a co-founder of the protests known as Occupy Central, urged protesters to consider ending their blockades of major roads and switch their focus to seeking long-term support from the public.

Public support for the demonstrations, which at their peak saw tens of thousands of people in the streets, is waning after crowds dwindled, attempts to negotiate with the government failed and the movement’s leaders failed to agree on strategy.

The protests, the most disruptive since China resumed sovereignty of the former British colony in 1997, were sparked by Beijing’s decision to screen candidates through a committee for the city’s leadership election in 2017.

Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule under a “one country, two systems” formula that gives the city more autonomy and freedom than the mainland and an eventual goal of universal suffrage.

Violent clashes between pro-democracy demonstrators and the police this week have underscored the difficulty the authorities face in evicting people from the barricaded tent cities that have blocked some of the city’s busiest streets since late September.

On Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, dozens of demonstrators attempted to break into Hong Kong’s legislature, using metal barricades as ramrods to smash through doors and windows of reinforced glass.

The police arrested at least six people for assaulting officers and causing “criminal damage” to property.

Student groups and pro-democracy lawmakers have joined the police in criticising the participants in the assault, condemning the use of violence.

Wednesday’s poll echoed the similar findings of a survey conducted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong this week, which found 67.4 per cent of people saying the activists should give up their street protests immediately.

That poll conducted from Nov 5 to 11 also found that public support for the movement was also wavering, with 43.5 per cent of people saying they were against it, compared with 33.9 per cent who gave their support.

Mr Joshua Wong Chi-fung, one of the student leaders heading the protests, yesterday refused to directly condemn the protesters’ actions, although he acknowledged the storming of the legislature was inappropriate.

“The basis for taking this level of action was not there,” he told an RTHK talk show yesterday, reported the South China Morning Post.

Mr Wong said: “There had been no planning, no explanation to other protesters and the public beforehand on what they were trying to achieve.

“What I would condemn was a lack of accountability among the masked protesters.”

He added that he believed the protests should continue.

Police chief superintendent Hui Chun-tak said at a press briefing on Wednesday that the police will help clear protest sites in the Mong Kok district — the scene of some of the fiercest clashes at the peak of the protests — as soon as their preparations were completed. He warned that the police would take “resolute action” against anyone interfering with bailiffs. Agencies

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